PID checks (Personel Identification checks) must be carried out in order to comply with the ROE (Rules of Engagement). It is a simple rule which can stop the coalition from unleashing a massive amount of firpower on figures which may or may not be combatants. In game terms this is a straght-forward troop quality check by the troops who wish to decern if the figures are armed or not. In Ambush Alley the basic mechanic is 4+ sucseeds. SO the taliban player should put some civilian type figures down on the table and until they pass a PID check OR these "civilians" open fire.

Assuming the Coalition troops pass the PID check then the "Civilians" would be revealed as either what they are or as Taliban. Thefore in the top two pictures they are potentially the same unit. WHich could be very very bad if the Taliban can set up and catch the coalition in the open.

Here is a Taliban light mortar. A two man crew with a 50mm light mortar. Easy to set up pop a few rounds with and then scurry away. They also have 80mm mortars in the Taliban arsenal as well as recoiless rifles which fir in both direct and indirect modes. But My players need not worry about that too much at the moment as I have yet to buy any of those.

I have nearly finished the moon boards for Andy at Ainsty Castings. I have no excuse for not finishing them by Monday. This will allow me to crack on with the Afghanistan boards. For me the real issue is motivation but it is also lack of space. It really is cramped if I need to work on more than one terrain project at a time. I would quite literally be tripping over things.
That's it for today, as I need to sort out the WW1 Zombie game for tomorrow. All the best Clint

Thursday, 19 April 2012

Given that in the last game the Taliban were out-gunned I painted up another technical. It had a couple of "bullet holes" aka casting bubbles across the bonnet so I thought I would enhance then and give the vehicle a shattered wind screen. Sometimes it's just easier than trying to patch a model up. The two guys in the back are not fixed in place. I was unsure if the 12.7mm HMG should face forward or backwards this way both options are covered and the third option of being a civilian vehicle is also available. Instinctively I do put the gun facing forward, as did Kev in the game where he controlled it. Having looked at a few pictures from "technicals" from around the world seem to be evenly split between forward and read firing weapons. (I have even seen one that was "Designed" to fire from one side only. My guessing is that they use whatever works. Back to talking about the firepower difference, if we look at the difference between a British WW2 Battalion and a Modern Company, the modern company is about 40 times larger in terms of firepower or so I was reading last night. To me that's a massive disparity.I have just about finished the Taliban now. 8 more on the painting table all RPGs and LMGs. As I think that they might be the things I run out of especially if they break down into weapons teams. The advantage of weapons teams is that they get more firepower with a dedicated assistant to the gunner or grenadier. The disadvantage is that they are vulnerable in terms of morale. After all if it's just you and one other and the 'other' takes a wound there is more chance that you'll be next. I did send off for a couple more Afghan items last night but only a small order and nothing vital. Just a few figures which may not get used even if I do get them painted in time... Another load of goats for example. Finally here is yet another vehicle. A donkey and a cart. Just a piece of slow moving terrain to block roads and generally get in the way. No I have not sent for more, one should be enough.

Well that's today's news. I'll post again on Saturday. Till then take care and happy Blogging! Cheers Clint

Tuesday, 17 April 2012

Once again hallow! Only one new pic today, everything is about half done on the paining table so nothing finished enough for a new pic except these. Just a few mor Taliban with AKs. I'll try to get some more finished today so there'll be something more substantial to show on Thursday.

Mind you I have been busy today, up the shed at 6am working on the last moon board. All the construction is done, and it is being sealed as we speak. Once it is dry I should be able to paint them in a day and then just tape the edges to avoid splinters and they are all done. Been a long time in coming but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.

As soon as the moon boards are out of the way I shall start the Afghan boards. I took a few moments at work last night to finalise (in my mind) the plans. There will be 4 boards each 2 foot square. I will put a "T"-Junction track/road on each one. This will give me quite a variety of layout sand allow the vehicles to travel about without making it an obvious grid. One of the "T" Junctions will actually be a "V" shape just to break up the straight lines which should reduce some of the firing arcs. IF I have time I shall also make 2 very narrow "Canal" boards. about 6 inches wide and 2 foot long. My reading indicates that there are a number of contested bridges in the Sangin area (Green 12 and Green 78 although I am sure the locals call them different things). These can be used to either edge the battle boards or to separate them. They are low priority at this time though so may not get done at all.

Ok I have put it off for as long as I dare. Zombie WW1 game. I can almost hear you cheering that finally I get to the interesting bit. As mentioned in the comments yesterday it will be a mish-mash with pieces coming in from several game sources so It won't be as pretty as I would hope. If I get inspired to run it a few more times I'll repaint the terrain. At the moment all the trenches are desert, they were made for a Galipoli game long before WW1 become a popular period to wargame and sat in boxes up the shed un used for about 10 years. So if we do more WW1 Zombies then I'll paint them in black and grey to give it a night times and Black and white cine film feel.

Figures will be my monochrome zombies (inspired by he Left 4 Dead computer game. Mostly Wargames Factory. I have a few unmade so I might have a go at making a "Wire Zombie" Not sure how just yet, but it will come together no doubt. If I do yes I will post pics. The Brits are a cobbled together collection of Renegade, Foundry, woodbine and Great war miniatures. Basically whatever I could buy cheap on that famous online auction site.

Rules will be 7ombie TV by Crooked Dice. I re-read them last night and found that in the car park game I ran at Christmas I got the rules wrong. This time they should be more mobile and thus more threatening.

As mentioned Yesterday I will base it around a Trench raid rather than a pitched battle and as the Brits are early war figures they do lack Lewis guns etc. Not sure you would ever take a Lewis on a trench raid bit cumbersome if you ask me. So no Tanks, Planes, Artillery or Machine guns, just your basic foot slogger with a SMLE a bayonet and some pluck. Reading through the rules there are several co-star archetypes that can fit so I can create some variation in the pregen characters but I won't push it too far. I don't think I'll have any characters with scavenger skills after all walking round a trench with a lawn mower does not feel right to me. What I shall most likely do is drop a few extra bits of kit to different characters to try to balance it a bit more.

I won't go too deeply into background and who manufactured the Dreaded ZED-GAS (probably the French it sound like a French idea to use on their own troops who refuse to attack.... but this is only speculation.). As at this stage it's a one off game I'll see how it goes before I spend too much effort on it.

I'll try to remember the camera and spare batteries

Thanks for reading, I'll post again on Thursday and with luck I may have more new troops to show.

Monday, 16 April 2012

Just a quick post (proper post tomorrow) Just found out we might have 2 new people coming to Rainham wargames club on Sunday. We wanted an active game to get them involved. So I was talking to Kev and we have hit on the plan of using 7ombie TV rules for a zombie game... everyone loves zombie games after all*.
The Pic shows my modular trench system, at the Skirmish show a few years back (3 years ago I think). Anyway I'll get the players to do a trench raid on a section of the line that the Brits think has rebelled against the Germans for some reason as they do hit their own line with the big guns. So a squad is sent to investigate. I know the players will already know it's a zombie game. But it should be slightly different. I may add more detail in my usual blog tomorrow.

*Disclaimer: Ok not everyone loves zombie games but I do so that's settled.

Sunday, 15 April 2012

As you can see from this series of pictures I have pulled my finger out and got on with it. What we have in these pics is a series of double ups of figures. Given the irregular non uniform state of the Taliban even minor differences can easily mark out similar figure poses into distinctly different individuals. The two guys on the far right for example are painted exactly the same but with one being just that shade lighter. Even placed next to each other on the table top (perhaps not with my photography skills) they look sufficiently different that no one will really notice or care that much. All these twelve figures are from my usual source (MJ FIGURES), and as they only make a limited selection of packs I think when they are all scattered around the table no one (other than me perhaps) will worry about doubles. Yes it is nice to have variety especially in a skirmish game where you can mostly get away with fewer figures. It is however not essential In the past when there were fewer manufactures whole battalions of figures might be in a single pose. For Napoleonic armies this did not look too bad but for ancients it just looked wrong. Every man holding a spear in the same way quite possibly in mid thrust all synchronised and in time with each other. How things have changed. Personally I like skirmish games and I like a variety of figures. I don't really mind a variety of manufacturers as long as the figures are all of a certain quality. And I do find it dull to paint the same figure time and time again, it seems more like repetitive work than a hobby and that may well have been the reason for my previous apathy. In summery I don't mind repeat figures but I do like variety.

Another reason for the banishment of Apathy might well be the postman (Alan yes even postal workers have names and my usual postie is called Alan.) On Saturday morning he delivered 2 parcels. A book which I'll talk about at a later date as I have only just started it, and some shiny metal friends. For less than £20 (Including postage) I have got all the Brits I think I'll need. I am not ready to paint them yet, still working through some Taliban bits and pieces. All I bought was 2 eight man squads with the right weapons which should be enough Brits for Broadside. 16 men does not seem a lot, but it should be sufficient given the firepower a squad can kick out.

BROADSIDE NEWS: Apart from Mark leaving a trader of the floor plan and him now having to find a place to squeeze them in. He'll manage and I won't blab about which trader it is. But the real news is that Miniature wargames not only has our advert this month but we also get a mention in the front of the Mag. They are talking about our "Make and Take" table for youngsters (in age not young at hear... Boo Hiss!) where Armourfast will donate some model tanks for the kids to build and play with. Yeah I know I wish I was a youngster as well. Anyway a Big thanks to Tracey at Armourfast and lets see if we can encourage a few youngsters to put the mobile phone down for 5 mins and do something creative.There will also be an associated games table for them and a simple set of rules.

I have not as yet managed to sort the club shirts out. I did speak to a supplier (Ok a market trader) but he can't get what I want. I could get them on line, but the tee shirts I want are about £9 each, before printing so I may have to look at alternatives.

My art supplier can't get me any more grey board either. Actually he can get 2mm think but as I am looking for 4mm thick it still counts as a no for me at this time. However I have found some suppliers on line so I shall just have to pay through the nose for delivery and probably make a minimum order as well. I don't really mind as I know If I have the materials I will find a use for them.

That's today's offering. Thanks for Reading and I'll blog again on Tuesday. Take care and have a good Sunday afternoon. Cheers Clint

Post script: The date on the Broadside poster top of this blog is last years poster. I will change it to this years poster later today. So if it reads 2011 forgive me. BUT if it says 2012 then you missed my obvious mistake.